re: Critically Acclaimed Movies That You Hate (Posted on 4/11/13 at 11:35 pm to Breesus)

quote:To anyone who said Forest Gump or The Godfather I or II, what the hell?

I love Godfather I - it might be my favorite movie ever... but I dislike both Gump and Godfather II

Gump I dislike because the writer rewards Gump for blindly stumbling through history while punishing the more human and more intelligent people around him with disease, disability, and death. At its essence the lesson it teaches is success in life is about luck (and intelligence leads to suffering)

Godfather II I dislike for several reasons. 1) it was made in a way that abandoned its intellectual honesty. In response to the criticism associated with the first Godfather they turned Michael into a cartoonish character who was not a more realistic blend of good and evil... he was evil and was known to be evil by those around him (see the scene where Diane Keaton tells Michael she would rather abort his baby than bring it into the world). The first movie didn't feel the need to pander to critics by making the central characters into that kind of mess. In large part the central characters were more interesting and less distant to the viewer because they were rounded human beings that you could more easily understand and less easily emotionally distance yourself from. 2) It is just not a cohesive movie. It is only truly tied together by the viewer's knowledge of the first film and implied interest in both a simultaneous back-story and follow-up on the first movie 3) the cinematography in the "modern" Michael story deteriorated to the point of the absurd. The den of the Godfather and the death scene on the boat were pretty near invisible in the midst of darkness. Why did I hate that in particular so much? Because I loved the rich and vibrant mixture of color and light with shadow in the first movie and purely in an effort to show artistic creativity they went in a different direction in the second movie (and I viewed the overbearing use of darkness=evil imagery as a continuation of the first problem I wrote about above)

re: Critically Acclaimed Movies That You Hate (Posted on 4/11/13 at 11:48 pm to blueboy)

quote:I'm hoping that you're being a contrarian a-hole with this statement, because the alternative is that your taste in film just sucks and is obscure just for the sake of being obscure.

So why does one (of three people mind you) disliking Godfather mean so much? And why would this statement be true at all.

And why is Godfather immune to dislike? Why?

That belief is far more ridiculous than my statement. And your assumption that that must mean I like obscure films to be obscure is also nothing short of ridiculous. Yes, go look at my Top 40 list. What's the most obscure movie on that list? Throne of Blood...maybe? If that's obscure.

And for the record, and on many occasions, I have already said that Godfather is a wonderfully made film with great parts all around. Very good writing, cinematography, acting, writing. All great. It maybe has some of the best collection of film parts ever, that's for sure.

....That doesn't mean I have to enjoy the experience. It has an awful moral center and it glamorizes evil. Not even just violence. And people love it for that.

I also really loath true anti-heroes, not just you know, Snake Plissken, but really bad guys like Michael. Sadly there's no redeeming character outside of Kay, and even that is a stretch by the end.

So saying that I strongly dislike the film is far from saying the film is bad. You've just proven most of the point of why SOMETIMES it's hard to have discussion.

"OH MY GOD SOMEONE SAID THEY DIDN'T LIKE THE GODFATHER! RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!"

That's just ignorant, sorry. And I don't mean that in distaste, I didn't throw out the first insult. Disliking one film made you question everything, come on, don't be that shallow.

re: Critically Acclaimed Movies That You Hate (Posted on 4/12/13 at 12:03 am to Freauxzen)

quote:I also really loath true anti-heroes, not just you know, Snake Plissken, but really bad guys like Michael. Sadly there's no redeeming character outside of Kate, and even that is a stretch by the end.

I was with your explanation all the way. Then you said this and my belief of how much you suck was confirmed